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Schooling, Education and the Shivering Self

One of my favorite writers in the field of education, Alfie Kohn, asks a very important question in the title of one of his books, What Does It Mean To Be Well-Educated? George Eliot makes a claim that seems to take up this question by stating, “It is an uneasy lot at best, to be what we call highly taught…to be present at this great spectacle of life and never to be liberated from a small, hungry, shivering self” (Middlemarch).

Students of Saint Mary’s Hall (Photo credit: Robert of Fairfax)

There is inherent in these two ideas this common thread: being well-educated should liberate persons from their small, hungry, shivering selves. Indeed, the intent of education should be about this very thing, so that the answer to Kohn’s question should be: being well-educated is the liberated self, enlarged by generosity, fed by virtue, and warmed by the well-being of one’s fully formed self.

Though this is what education should be (and was, from the time of the ancient Greeks through Jefferson’s vision of public schooling down to such thinkers as John Dewey), it is this no longer.

In fact, there is now a sharp distinction between education as I have articulated it above and schooling as it is done currently. Let me define what, in my opinion, education should be, and then counter it with what schooling currently is to show the distinction between the two.

Education

…is a process of discipline (literally “making disciples”) that gives individuals the capacity to do the difficult, long-term work of choosing virtue over the short-term satisfaction of self-glorification and self-gratification

…helps turn the homo erectus (the “upright man”) into the homo sapien (the “wise man”)

…yokes the pupil to the master so that, by sitting at the master’s feet over a long period of time, the pupil learns to emulate the manners, customs, and ways of life of the master

…has wisdom as its highest aim and transcendence of self as its ultimate good

…is concerned with the long-term view of students as husbands, mothers, neighbors, citizens, and activists infused with moral agency

…is a common project, engaged in by the community in its desire to support, raise and encourage wise, caring, noble persons capable of creating a more civic culture

…sees its work in terms of quest, craft, creation, and discovery

…sees students as creators, discoverers, inventors, scholars, citizens, and (to quote from David Orr) architects of repair in the world

…is the pursuit of ever more education–its motto (to quote from C.S. Lewis) is: higher up and further in

Schooling(on the other hand):

…sees students as mere repositories of information, buckets to be filled, takers of tests, makers of grades

…is concerned with quantifiable data taken in snapshots that can be measured, analyzed, studied and reported on

… separates, as much as possible, learning from any real discussion of meaning, purpose, calling, relevance or transcendence

…has rote memorization as its highest end, with the regurgitation of information as its ultimate good

…moves students along like Toyotas on an assembly line, never keeping them with any one teacher long enough to accomplish the deep yoking that offers guidance, counsel and a steady hand

…happens, at best, from 8:00am to 3:00ish pm (with as much homework as possible beyond that)

…occurs in desks and rows and lines

…is the project solely of those employed within its walls

…cares more for obedience, complacency and compliance than with virtue, wisdom and moral courage

…is a sorting house for a socio-economic system based upon marginilization, inequality and oppression

…is, all too often, a pipeline for prisons, gangs, and morgues as much as, if not more so, than for college and jobs

…is the pursuit of terminal degrees, whose motto is: work hard to become the best consumer possible

As you can see, the modern difference between education and schooling could not be more drastic, severe or tragic. What haunts me in this discussion is the realization that, in the most ideal and virtuous society (one that intentionally sought to educate as I describe above) it would be difficult for any one person to do the difficult work of choosing the liberation of virtue; in our society (one that prizes consumption over wisdom, self-indulgence over transcendence, short term desire over long-term well-being), it is all but impossible.

I return, then, both to Alfie Kohn’s question and George Eliot’s declaration to state that, to be well-educated is to be liberated from our small, hungry, shivering selves.

In short, it is a call to replace schooling with education, to replace shivering selves with flourishing ones, to reimagine the purpose and intent for what we mean by education.

Feel free to share your thoughts on schooling and education in the comments section.

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17 thoughts on “Schooling, Education and the Shivering Self”

I’m a junior in high school right now and I hate it. I hate being pressured to get good grades on tests and to get into a good college. It’s difficult for me to focus on what I’m learning when I’m worrying about my grades. I would prefer an education focused on giving me wisdom rather than the schooling I am going through right now. The problem is that I’m not sure that other students and I would be willing to work hard if given an education. We wouldn’t be pressured to get good grades. And as beneficial as an education is, it doesn’t seem to be absolutely necessary. People who go through schooling instead of education and graduate from college may become excessive consumers and may have unhealthy lives, but at least they’re not on the streets starving. They may not have learned much in school, but they still ended up with the basic necessities of life. It isn’t really necessary to learn the things taught in school. I doubt many people will end up using calculus in real life. So if education isn’t absolutely necessary, I’m not sure if me and other students really deserve it. We should be glad that we get to go to school at all because many other people in the world don’t. I definitely don’t like the current school system, but I’m not sure if it should be changed to focus on education.

All this to say, there are answers to this quandary. I do agree that it is better to have the option for schooling than to not; what I would argue is that, were schooling to ever look more like education, students might choose to work for a better education for everyone, everywhere, making the world a better place.

The way our societies and economies work necessitates the sort of schooling system we have – generally, in order to succeed career-wise and financially, we need to take the right sort of subjects, get the right sort of grades, and go onto the right sort of trade or further education that will get us into the rat-race and keep us in it. The realities of life in our society require that. Having said that, there are many teachers and other educationalists who are amazing, and who create in their classrooms and schools the sort of learning environment that allows for “education” as well as “schooling”.
The great thing is, snickers4763, you don’t have to rely on official schooling to give you an education – the most interesting and most valuable learning really comes from your own discoveries. You can learn about anything you want, and do it because you want to, not because you are going to be graded on it. You can gain an education through the things you choose to learn about throughout your life. That sort of learning – and the sort that really good teachers help provide – is way more interesting than what you describe as going on at the moment at school. When that starts happening, it’s not a chore; it has its own excitement. You get so involved in it that you want to find out more, you want to work hard at getting it; it is its own motivation. It’s completely different from rote learning.
And education is vitally necessary. Without it – the sort of education that is expressed in this post – our societies would fall apart. It makes us wise, generous, able to see different points of view, creative, interesting, hopeful, etc. It makes us real people. Although we have to learn how to be a part of the economy in order to survive, that’s really all it does – keeps us alive and keeps the economy going. It doesn’t make our society or our communities good or useful or happy. That comes down to education. : )

I guess it is possible to go through schooling at school and to learn other things outside of school about wisdom and virtue, and that this happens to most people. Even if I can learn important things outside of school, I still disagree with schooling. Students should be given more time and opportunities to learn about things outside of school rather than be burdened with getting good grades and with extra curricular commitments.

The longer I teach the more convinced I am that it is all about the relationship between student and teacher. I’m unwilling and unlikely to learn anything from someone I don’t like, laugh with or respect.

Scott, I have much to offer to this discussion and will be back in the morning to add a few thoughts. Perhaps some of my thoughts will spawn another article by you. I wholeheartedly agree with you. Excellent article.

So here are a more thoughts to add to this topic worthy of in-depth discussion. I have three children in their twenties so I’m gleaning from my own experience. I tried three venues to educate them. Public school, homeschool, and private Christian school.
Public school. Yes, I started them with high hopes. First day of school pictures were filled with hope for the future. I soon learned the reading method lacked phonics, there was something called “whole language”, the homework was ridiculous. How many times did I ask myself, “They are there for SEVEN HOURS and they have homework?” I became an avid believer in NO HOMEWORK, except for reading books. But how could I fight this big system? Have my kids skip homework? So I became the impetus for homework. How much of our just fun time being a family was I sacrificing for this? So enter …
Homeschool. If I’m spending this much time teaching my own children what they could easily learn in the seven school hours I might as well teach them myself. Now, I did a few of the homeschooling co-ops and they were quite helpful. Since I had to work part-time my husband helped and I couldn’t run to every homeschool co-op activity. I found in the homeschooling world there was ample activities and you could run yourself crazy participating in all. Overall I kept things pretty simple, though emotionally I wore myself out trying to combine it with work. So enter …
Christian school. My kids were of average intelligence, one of them struggling with academics. I soon discovered that Christian school was for bright kids. It seemed all the kids were above average intelligence. The academics were so rigorous that mine couldn’t keep up. They did okay and I highly recommend a Christian education. But parents need to keep a couple things in mind. First, they do not have a place for the struggling learning disabled child–understandably so. Second, I would start them out there from the beginning. It was very hard for mine to merge in with them in the midst of their elementary years. Third–be realistic about matching your child to their rigorous academics. We returned to one year of public school and then returned to homeschool. Our homeschooling allowed us so much flexibility with travel to visit grandparents and other places and all these were very important to us.
One more thing that relates to both public and Christian school. Beware of “projects”. These are supposed to be student projects. So when there was a project I stood by and made my kids do them completely. I supervised, asked questions, made suggestions, etc. You can imagine my shock when my fifth grade son had to complete a storyboard for a science project that consisted in taking photos of wildflowers and making display with pictures, descriptions, etc. I made him physically do everything. So, it looked like a fifth grader did it all. Imagine my utter shock when we brought it for set up and there were all these beautifully laid out displays labeled in beautiful script. So I came up with the term “parent projects”, for all of these type projects are truly done by parents, not the child. I dreaded when my kids brought home another one. What kind of education is that???
So a couple last things. My kids turned out great, despite my experimentation in all venues! I completed most of their junior high and high school years with home school. But overall we had a great time as a family. My son went to work with his dad on days I worked and he learned some great skills, plus interacted with adults. We traveled. We talked. We read books. In high school they had part-time jobs and their employers loved the fact they could work hours that other kids their age could not. I was not a stellar homeschooler but I found anything they learned at home was better than what they gleaned in public school. The one thing that everyone says about my kids now is that they have integrity and an outstanding work ethic. People use words like kind, articulate, and mature to describe my kids. One is now into her second professional pursuit and taking high level math and chemistry, something she struggled with in younger years. My learning disabled child is now head cashier in a large department store and is responsible for balancing to the penny anywhere from $5000-$15,000 cash every day. She is the only one who can enter the vault, which is under a high security system. My son is advancing in his career. I know everyone cannot homeschool but between my husband and I we devoted a variety of learning for them tailored to who they are. Some days were far from perfect but I found that even it provided for them to see how to work through those difficult days when life throws curves your way. For us, all of life became a place to learn.
And lastly I will sum this up about our public school system. It is wired for girls, not restless boys who would rather be doing something with their hands. I think this leads to a destructive pattern in our male population. They are shunned because of their restlessness, given pills for “ADD”. I find this tragic. The little girls can sit still and be attentive and do everything “perfect”. What on earth are we doing to our boys, who will grow into the adventurers and innovators? They are wired for adventure and pioneering and are left to fend for themselves. Like you said, the public school system is a pipeline to prison for many. Tragic, tragic.
So what do I think is the solution? I think we need to give children a love for words and reading, teach basic math skills, and tons of history in elementary years. The history needs to continue throughout. By the time they reach junior high they can be matched to their future of college or skills. Use the senior high years to go ahead and start the college bound on their journey. Yes, put those who are ready in college. For the others, of course there is always that option as they are ready, too. But make sure it is their passion. For the others, use that time to help them discover a passion for skills so badly needed in our workforce—construction, carpentry, bricklayers, plumbers, electricians, machinists, computer techs, health care technicians, nurses, mechanics, truck drivers, accountants, administrative assistants, etc. And use high school to train them. By the time they graduate from high school we would have a mature, prepared trained workforce to meet the demands of our country. How well I remember my oldest daughter wanting to return to high school her senior year to participate in the graduation ceremony. She later said that year was the biggest waste of time in her life.
‘Nuff said!
Alexandria

P.S.
Scott, I understand your post was written from a more philosophical point of view–not meant to be an exhaustive discussion. I am passionate about my experience with my own children and the dismal state of our public education system. Your post provided a venue for a point of view in practice and experience.
Alexandria

Reblogged this on Abell2Live and commented:
I like the contrast between education and schooling. I often talk about it in terms of education and knowledge. When I do, I speak of education as training for a career and knowledge as training for life. They are certainly not identical

Interesting. When I talk about education, I talk about what should happen for life. As John Dewey said, education should always prepare us for more education. Unfortunately, we have separated the two so much that now our default position is to think of “education” as something different than training us for life. This is the result of the modern concept of education as job training, not self-mastery.

Agreed, I am not happy with the dichotomy between education and knowledge or education and schooling, however that appears to be the given landscape. Therefore in the given landscape, I try to help others make sense of it in terms of pursuit of knowledge for enrichment not career qualification.